Two weeks ago Hatch announced he would not seek re-election. A month ago he championed the GOP tax reform bill, that will result in rich people, like Hatch himself, getting a tax break of millions of dollars. Not long before that Hatch championed an effort to reduce the size of two national monuments in Utah.
Has Hatch really been fighting for the residents of Utah, or a select few who are going to benefit from his legacy?
President Donald Trump applauded Hatch as carrying the torch of tax reform in the U.S. Senate. Hatch stood behind Trump at media events when Trump bragged about bringing tax relief to the middle class. Only critical analysis shows it won’t. Over 80 percent of the benefits written into the new tax code will go to rich people and it will add enormously to the deficit.
The Republican argument is that economic growth will cancel the deficit, but does anyone really believe that? The Los Angeles Times says, “137 economists Paul Ryan says back the GOP tax plan include retirees, office assistants, and at least one guy who seems made up.”
The Joint Committee of Taxation concluded that even after accounting for economic growth (if that occurs), the plan will add over $1 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. And that was the good news. The report from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center concluded the bill will add $1.3 trillion to the deficit after factoring in economic growth.
Quoting Tony Nitti at Forbes Magazine: “You can decide for yourself whom or what to believe: 100 years of sound economic theory and two independent analyses, or the promises of Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and the elusive Gil Sylvia.” (Gil Sylvia is an economist who signed as a supporter of the tax bill, although no one can find an economist named Gil Sylvia.) Nitti is a tax partner in WithumSmith&Brown’s National Tax Service Group.
The Tax Policy Center broke it down a little further. Those in the lowest-earning fifth of the population would see their income increase by 0.4 percent. Those in the next to lowest fifth would receive a 1.2 percent boost. The middle fifth would see their income increase 1.6 percent and the next to highest fifth by 1.9 percent. But the biggest increase, 2.9 percent, would go to those in the top-earning fifth. So, is a 1 percent increase in your paycheck worth another trillion dollars of deficit? Those tax breaks expire in 2025.
And that’s not even the meat of the GOP tax reform bill. Much bigger breaks are given to large corporations and rich people who earn their money through investment income. These breaks are huge. And those breaks don’t expire.
Isn’t Hatch a Republican? Isn’t Trump a Republican? Aren’t Republicans the party touting fiscal responsibility? Or is greed more important?
Trump made a rare presidential visit to Utah to sign presidential decrees cutting the size of Bears Ears and Escalante-Staircase National Monuments. Again, Hatch was at his side during media events. Trump said it was Hatch who is responsible for the executive order. This executive order makes it possible for large companies to mine uranium, as well as any other natural resources, on land sacred to Navajo Indians. President Barrack Obama created Bears Ears National Monument at the request of the Navajo tribe. Once again, a few wealthy people stand to gain at the expense of the majority of the public, the Navajo tribe, and especially the environment.
Elections are the only way citizens have to hold politicians accountable. Hatch will never face voters to account for his actions. One must wonder what is really going on. Are these just more ploys to help rich people get richer at the expense of everyone else?
Is it just me who finds the timing of Orrin Hatch’s retirement announcement suspect?
STEVE CHRISTENSEN